Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos!
Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating
universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written
by a professional astronomer.

2000 July 23

Isaac Newton Explains the Solar System

Explanation:
Sir Isaac Newton changed the world.
Born in 1643,
Newton was only an above-average student.
But he went home from
Cambridge
one summer in 1665, thought a lot about the
physical nature of the world, and came back two
years later with a revolutionary understanding of
mathematics,
gravitation, and optics.
A Professor of his, upon understanding what Newton had done,
resigned his own position at Cambridge so
Newton could have it.
Newton's
calculus
provided a new mathematical framework for the rapid solution of
whole classes of physical problems.
Newton's law of
gravitation explained
in one simple formula how apples fall and planets move.
Newton's insights proved to be so
overwhelmingly powerful he was the
first scientist ever knighted.